The directory «Plots»

Kersnik Janko
(1852—1897)

A storyteller, publicist and politician Janko Kersnik was born at Brdo near Lukovica. After finishing primary and grammar school in Ljubljana, he went on to study law in Vienna and Graz. Having passed the judicial exam, he became the solicitor in his native Brdo. As a politician, Kersnik was three times elected member of the Carinthia Provincial Assembly. Kersnik wrote his first poems while attending grammar school, first in the German and later in the Slovene language, but was not successful at it and eventually turned to writing feuilletons. His truly creative literary career began when he started publishing short stories from the cycle Kmetske slike (Images from Peasant Life). These realistic stories show the morally tarnished and tragic image of the peasant. Kersnik's transition from Romanticism to Realism is best demonstrated in his novels Ciklamen (Cyclamen) and Agitator and the story Jara gospoda (Narrow-minded Bourgeoisie). All his works critically depict the then Slovene petite bourgeoisie and the social and political upstarts. By finishing Jurčič's Rokovnjači (Brigands) Kersnik gave fresh impetus to Slovene storytelling. With his novels he has helped create the model of Slovene bourgeois novel.

Slovenia, 2002, Janko Kersnik

Slovenia, 2002.01.22, Lukovica. Janko Kersnik